What has got David Rosenberg so excited, followers may have wondered this week when one of Bay Street’s biggest bears came out sounding — well, almost bullish.

“For the record, I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. Don’t be surprised if I end up turning bullish ahead of the pack,” Glaskin Sheff’s chief economist wrote in a note this week.

Not only bullish, but ahead of the pack! [np-related]

“The Rosenberg shift to perma-bull status” could come as early as Thanksgiving, but much depends on the results of the U.S. election.

Rosenberg says if Canada could pull back from “the brink of fiscal insanity” in the early 1990s, America can do it too.

And he argues that the Wisconsin win by controversial Governor Scott Walker and recent moves by Californian cities to curb their public pension liabilities signal that a very necessary austerity movement is taking root in America.

What the nation needs now is a majority party in power with the courage and discipline “to embark on the road towards fiscal austerity” — and Rosenberg appears to think a change for the better is the offing.

“The Republicans look set to take the Senate and reclaim the House, so it would stand to reason that those who believe this a time for courageous action to replace gridlock, would be opting for Mr. [Mitt] Romney,” he wrote.

“Resolve. Courage. Discipline. Shared sacrifice. I can sense it coming down the pike. As was the case with Ronald Reagan, just having a clear and coherent fiscal plan will part the clouds of uncertainty and encourage capital to be put at risk rather than sit as idle unproductive cash on corporate balance sheets.”

Mind you, that doesn’t mean America won’t have another recession, he said, but “the future is brighter than you think.”

“I’m so excited I just can’t hide it. But for now I’m keeping the powder dry,” Rosenberg wrote.